David Davis on the highwire!

A shock move at Westminster means that there will be yet another by-election. Just when we thought there wouldn't be any, three come along at once. A bit like London buses (and the No.6 in Birmingham!). David Davis has resigned as an MP. He feels he ought to fight a by-election to prove a point. The point being that Gordon Brown's government is busily eroding our freedoms.

My view is that Davis is wrong in his calculations. The British public have never liked unnecessary by-elections. He will win big, because this attack on the Government's illiberal activities appears to be a joint venture with the LibDems. However, it is risky. If it is a low poll it will give the part-time MP job-sharing with an MSP, who also doubles up as the Prime Minister, every reason to gloat. As I have mentioned before, Wilson tried to force an election in Leyton in 1965 and got the two-finger treatment. Later, in Mitcham & Morden, Bruce Douglas-Mann resigned, on a point of principle, and lost. He'd joined the SDP and felt his constituents needed a vote. The one case where it turned out OK was Dick Taverne's by-election in Lincoln in 1973, when he stood as Democratic Labour. In the main, however, it is always a risky policy. The electorate won't be voting on the 42 day proposal but on whatever takes their fancy on the day.

I hope he doesn't come a cropper. I think Davis is a principled man. Not so the woman from Redditch, who needs a whopping great Redditch needle to prick her conscience!

New Labour is a bad joke. Yesterday Brown said that the Home Secretary could come to the Commons with a letter describing the need for 42 days if she was told there was a threat. Of course, the pending case could not be discussed. So the House of Commons would have to take her at her word. She'd be flapping about like Neville Chamberlain. If I were there, I just couldn't believe her. Sorry, but it would be true. They all have a track record of out-talking the smartest weasel alive!

So, Haltemprice and Howden By-election here we come!

Posted in: Conservative Party,David Davis,Haltemprice and Howden By-election